AS MAD AS A MARCH HARE

Spring is almost here. Snowdrops and primroses have been showing us their beauty for a few weeks now, reminding us that the long dreary days of winter are almost over.

We are very privileged to be able to observe the wild hare and its behaviour from the forge. There is something quite magical about these beautiful, shy and docile animals as they spar and chase one another to attain dominance over breeding. The collective name for a group of hares is a ‘Drove’ and a hare that is less than a year old is called a ‘Leveret’. The hare does not give birth to their young underground in a burrow as rabbits do, but in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a ‘Form’. The hare has long been linked with Pagen, Sacred and Mystic associations. In the fantasy tale Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll the March Hare sat down at the Mad Tea Party with Alice the Dormouse and the Hatter who sports a large top hat.